GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce celebrated new members and officers Thursday night at its annual meeting.

 

Mark Rulison, artistic administrator for Tanglewood, steps into the president's role, replacing Sierra King Watson.

 

Watson, of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, has been the president for two years and Rulison has been on the board for three years. 

 

"I'm thrilled with the membership of the board. We have an incredible group of people who are dedicated and committed to the business community that we serve in the area," Rulison said. "I am looking forward to working with all of them and growing that in the future. 

 

"I would love to see the board to continue to do its incredible work in the business, to business space, and also expand more into the business, to people space, helping our local businesses find more customers, keep more customers, bringing people in their doors, through the events that we host, through the events that we sponsor, through the messaging that we do."

 

Watson said she was excited to pass the torch to Rulison and believes SBCC has come along way in the last year with their partnership with the local app BerkHub, which showcases local businesses.

 

"We're trying to bring in more like the modern digital platform. Which one of the things we brought in was our new partnership with the BerkHub app," she said. "So I think those type of things we're trying to bring in into 2026 and so on and so forth. So I think definitely trying to keep up with more modern technology is where we're heading."

 

Rulison thanked the members and especially Watson, who was given flowers during the meeting as a thank you.

 

"Especially want to thank Sierra for her leadership as board president for the last two years. It's not an easy job. It takes a lot of time. She did it remarkably well," he said. "I think everyone in our community knows her and knows that when she commits to something, she sees it through full force, full throttle, and we're grateful to her."

 

The board of officers include Vice President Ryan Sears of Common Collab, co-Treasurers Holly Simeone of Berkshire Money Management and Watson, Clerk Oskar Hallig of Only in My Dreams Events, and member-at-large Seth Keyes of Saint James Place.

 

The new board of directors also includes: Margie Gwozdz of Wheeler & Taylor Inc., Jennifer Connor Shumsky of Greylock Federal Credit Union, Ben Elliott of the Triplex Cinema, Kris Kanter of Railroad Street Collective, Ann Grochmal of the Mahaiwe Performing Art Center, Serena Johnson of the Great Barrington Public Theater and Trish Mead of Kwik Print.